Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/414

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THESSALY Z52 THIEF four districts — Hestiseotis, Pelasgiotis, Thessaliotis, and Phthiotis; Magnesia on the coast being a minor division. The government appears to have been oligar- chial in the separate cities — of which Pharsalus, Larissa, Heracleum, and Pherse were the principal — power being in the hands of two great families. About 374 B. C. Jason, tyrant of Pherse, was elected Tagus (chief -magistrate) of all Thessaly. The rule of Jason's suc- cessors became so unbearable that aid was sought from Philip of Macedon, who in 344 subjected the country to Mace- donia. Thessaly remained subject to the Macedonian kings till the victory of Cy- noscephalse, in 197 B. c, brought it un- der the protection of Rome. Under the emperors Thessaly was united with Mac- edonia, but after Constantine it was a separate province. In A. D. 1204 with other portions of the Eastern Empire, it, came under the dominion of the Vene- tians, and in 1355 was taken by the Turks. The restoration to Greece of Thessaly S. of the Salambria was rec- ommended by the Berlin Congress in 1878; and subsequently various modifica- tions of the Greco-Turkish frontiers were proposed, the Greeks endeavoring to se- cure the cession of the whole of Thes- saly. War between Greece and Turkey seemed imminent; but in 1881 Turkey agreed to cede, and Greece to accept, Thessaly S. of the ridge of mountains forming the watershed of the Salam- bria (the ancient Peneus), by much the largest and most fertile section of the province. The Greek portion constitutes the three monarchies of Larissa, Trik- hala, and Phthiotis with Phocis. THETIS, in mythology, one of the sea deities, who was courted by Neptune and Jupiter. But when the gods were in- formed that the son she would bring forth must become greater than his fa- ther they ceased their solicitations; and Peleus, the son of ^Eacu.^, was permit- ted to gain her hand. Thetis became mother of several children, among them Achilles whom she rendered invulnerable by plunging him in the waters of the Styx, except that part of the heel by which she held him. THETIS, in zoology, a genus of Myacidse. Shell sub-orbicular, ventri- cose, thin, translucent, granulated on the surface, and with a slightly nacreous in- terior. Hinge teeth one or two. Known species: Recent five from Great Britain, France, India, etc.; fossil 17, from the Neocomian of Great Britain, Belgium, France, and Southern India onward. THEURGY, the working of some divine or supernatural agency in hu- man affairs; a working or producing ef- fect by supernatural means; effect of phenomena brought about among men by spiritual agency; specifically: (1) Divine agency or direct interference of the gods in human affairs, or the gov- ernment of the world. (2) The act or art of invoking deities or spirits, or by their intervention conjuring up visions, interpreting dreams, receiving or ex- plaining oracles, etc.; the power of ob- taining from the gods, by means of cer- tain observances, words, symbols, or the like a knowledge of the secrets which surpass the power of reason, to lay open the future, etc. (3) That species of magic which more modern professors of the art allege to produce its effects by super- natural agency, as contradistinguished from natural magic. (4) A system of supernatural knov/ledge or power believed by the Egyptian Platonists to have been divinely communicated to a hierarchy, and by them handed down from genera- tion to generation. THEXJRIET, ANDRE, a French au- thor; born in Marly le Roi, near Paris, Oct. 8, 1833; studied law in Paris, and received in 1857 a place in the office of the minister of finance. He published in 1867 "The Woodland Road," a volume of poems. Later poems were "The Peas- ants of Argonne, 1792" (1871), and "Blue and Black" (1872). But Theu- riet is best known by his novels, which include: "Mile. Guignon" (1874); "The Marriage of Gerard" (1875) ; "The For- tune of Angeli" (1876) ; "Our Children" (1892) ; etc. He died April 23, 1907. THEVETIA (named by Linnaeus after its describer, Thevet, a French Francis- can, of the 16th century), in botany, a genus of Carisseas. Inflorescence consist- ing of terminal or lateral cymes. Calyx five-parted, with many glands inside at its base; corolla salver-shaped, closed by four scales; fruits slightly fleshy, with a hard stone inside. T. neriifolia is cultiva- ted in tropical America, whence it has been introduced into India. The milky juice is very poisonous, the bitter and cathartic bark is a febrifuge, and an oil extracted from the kernels is emetic and purgative. THIEF, in ordinary language, one who steals or is guilty of theft; one who takes the goods or personal property of another without his knowledge or con- sent, and without any intention of return- ing it; one who deprives another of property secretly or without open force, as opposed to a robber, who uses open force or violence. In the times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. no such sharp